Fred Thompson

Fred Thompson grew up in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. Fred Thompson received his undergraduate degree in philosophy and political science from Memphis State University in 1964 and his law degree from Vanderbilt University in 1967, working his way through school. Two years after law school, Fred Thompson was named an Assistant United States Attorney and at the age of 30 was appointed Minority Counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee, where he served in 1973 and 1974. In 1977 Fred Thompson took on the case of a Tennessee Parole Board chairman fired under suspicious circumstances. Thompson's work helped to expose a cash-for-clemency scheme that ultimately toppled the governor. The scandal became the subject of a best-selling book and later a film, Marie, in which Thompson portrayed himself. He went on to appear in 18 motion pictures, including In the Line of Fire, Die Hard II and The Hunt for Red October. Prior to his election to the U.S. Senate, Fred Thompson maintained law offices in Nashville and Washington and served as Special Counsel to both the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

In his first campaign for public office, Fred Thompson was elected by the people of Tennessee in 1994 to the remaining two years of an unexpired Senate term. When he was returned for a full term in 1996, he received more votes than any previous candidate for any office in Tennessee history. Fred Thompson won two elections in two years by more than twenty points each. Senator Thompson retired from the Senate in 2002, having served as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, and a member of the Senate committee on Finance.

In his time in the Senate, Thompson focused on issues such as reducing taxes, curbing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and eliminating government waste, fraud and abuse.
Since his retirement from the Senate, Thompson has returned to acting and plays Arthur Branch on the NBC series "Law and Order." In addition, Fred Thompson was named by President Bush as an informal advisor to Supreme Court Chief Justice nominee John Roberts, moving his nomination through the Senate. Fred Thompson is a monthly contributor to Townhall Magazine.

Fred Thompson is married. He has four children and five grandchildren.

Although Americans are used to Labor Day campaign kickoffs, this year’s back-to-back political conventions meant exposure to more than the usual number of partisan promises of a bright future and excoriation of the opposition.

This crisis half a world away confirms what I’ve been saying for a while: This election cycle, the traffic in the world is very heavy …and dangerous; it’s no time to give a kid with barely a learner’s permit the keys to the car.

We are here because we know that we have the strongest, freest and most prosperous country in the history of the world, and that if we adhere to the traditional principles of the Republican Party, which are the first principles of our country, we will keep it that way.

You can’t have national security without border security. It’s not only necessary for any meaningful immigration reform; border security plays a key role in both the interdiction of illegal drugs and in defending America against terrorist threats.

If you listen to folks who oppose immigration and border enforcement, you get the feeling they think we put locks on our doors to keep everybody out. The truth is we have locks so we can choose who comes in.

Whoa now. Let’s hold our horses a minute and think about the calls for new tax increases to fix our infrastructure problems. The Minneapolis bridge collapse is a tragedy, but we can’t let it be used to compound other problems – which is what will happen if we’re scared into raising gas taxes.

Economist Larry Kudlow calls today’s American economy, “the greatest story never told.” If you’re generally predisposed to not support tax cuts and economic growth, you’re probably satisfied that the U.S. economy isn’t bragged on more. But you’d also be out of step with Americans traditional optimism, and out of step with reality, too.

Last week, California officials in National City voted unanimously to use eminent domain to take over more than 600 properties—including a nonprofit youth center dedicated to keeping local kids out of gangs and off the street. They plan to give this land to local private developers for a group of condominiums.

The Framers drew their design for our Constitution from a basic understanding of human nature. From the wisdom of the ages and from fresh experience, they understood the better angels of our nature, and the less admirable qualities of human beings entrusted with power.